the commander of the league warinafghanistan. lt.john allen confirmed the president's plan to withdraw troops by next september was not one of the options presented by the current commander, general david petraeus. he was joined as confirmation hearing by vice admiral william mcgraven, a member of the seal team that killed osama bin laden. and general james thurmond. this is about two hours, 25 minutes. >> good morning everybody. mccreary here to consider the three military nominations for command of some of the most >> witnesses this morning on what is truly a joint panel are general james thurmond, u.s. army nominated to be commander united nations command combined forces command that u.s. forces correa, vice admiral william mccraven as navy and nominated to be commander special operations, and lieutenant general john allen, a u.s. marine corps for rob portman to the grid of general and nominated to be commander of the nato international security assistance for u.s. forces in afghanistan. thank you all for your many years of great service to this nation and your willingness to serve once ag

ofafghanistan, itsabilities to reestablish the safe haven. in other words, we in to render the heart of al qaeda and capable of launching attacks on our homeland, citizens, our allies, as well as preventing this group and its affiliates and adherents from doing so. at the same time, hopefully a kid and means to address the serious threat posed by the -- this does not require a global war. it does require a focus on specific regions, including what we might call the periphery, places like yemen, somalia, iraq -- it is another important distinguishing factor. it has looked increasingly to other groups and individuals to take a because, including the gold strike and the united states. we a specific and focus counter- terrorism and objectives. we're protecting our home and by constantly reducing our vulnerability is and not acting -- and adapting our abilities. we're the greatest al qaeda's capabilities and disrupting its operation. we're degrading the capability of al qaeda senior leadership to inspire, to nicki with, and direct the operations of its adherents from the world. we are aggressiv

donlin, the national security adviser whether we're drawing downinafghanistantoofast. so your money can move as fast as you do. check out your portfolio, track the market with live updates. and execute trades anywhere and anytime the inspiration hits you. even deposit checks right from your phone. just take a picture, hit deposit and you're done. open an account today and put schwab mobile to work for you. >>> we are back with tom donilon, national security adviser to president obama. apparently general petraeus was urging a slower withdrawal to consolidate the gains of the surge. isn't there a risk that in drawing down too fast you allow the violence to return to afghanistan? there are some indications it's already happening. >> well, the decision in afghanistan was made against a real record of achievement here and from a position of strength. the drawdown, as you know is not at all precipitous. the drawdown is a sound, paced withdrawal between now and the end of next summer. when i say the decision was made from a position of strength, i mean it's against the goals that we laid o

'm not a warmonger i don't want another war. we are already tied up iniraq,afghanistanandfor some reason libya. but the only way to stop iran is with clear military force. sanctions are great but at the end of the day they are not going to work. at the end of the day iranian regime is motivated by, again, an ideology. it's a messianic ideology. they truly believe and they will shape policy around this, the iranian government truly believe that they can punish in the end times. >> host: this would be the 12th? >> guest: that goes by various names. he is the islamist must live. this all sounds crazy i know but they really believe this. the likes of ahmadinejad. they believe that if they strike out against israel, if they acquire nuclear weapons, if there's a ton of great global chaos and a people which are seeing right now with this arab spring, they believe that can hasten the return of the islamist messiah who believed lead them to victory over israel and the west. so acquiring nuclear weapons is part of that divine plan. nothing will deter them or dissuade them from this goal. they believe it